An investigative report by the Village Voice uncovered nothing short of a scandal. A series of articles exposed the New York Police Department’s practice of consistently “undercharging” crimes in an effort to meet “performance measurements” (quotas are illegal) and make crime statistics appear more palatable. The manipulation of statistics was caught on tapes in which NYPD higher-ups can be heard telling street cops to downgrade crimes or simply not to report particular crimes at all.

Numerous courageous police officers have come forward to tell their tales of questionable police policies, such as retired detective Harry Hernandez, who details a harrowing account of police misconduct related to serial rapist Daryl Thomas. While NYC sexual assault prevention groups say that the issue of under-reporting and undercharging of crimes has been a “growing problem” over the last two years, these “shady police policies,” writes Alex DiBranco on the Women’s Rights blog, had particularly devastating consequences when Thomas was able to sexually assault six different women in a single neighborhood over a period of two months. He was on his way to a seventh when a “lucky break” fueled his capture by police. The brutal spree should have triggered alarm bells, but went unnoticed for so long because the NYPD kept downgrading the assaults to “criminal trespassing.”

Wow - that's apalling. I'm not surprised that they undercharge but serial sexual assault is not at all the type of crime that I originally imagined would be "played down". Hope this actually generates enough outrage to force legitimate policy change and not just another "workaround".

There was a segment on a recent This American Life episode detailing one former officer's documentation of the unlawful quota system being used within some precincts of the NYPD. Basically, officers were given quotas of tickets or citations they'd have to give out, and it led to people getting cited and ticketed for no reason whatsoever. That report touched on the crime stats doctoring as well and talked a bit about the rape case. That kind of police behavior is absolutely appalling, and I highly doubt it's specific to just NYC...

_________________If you spit on my food I will blow your forking head off, you filthy shitdog. - MumblesDon't you know that vegan meat is the gateway drug to chicken addiction? Because GMO and trans-fats. - kaerlighed